The Guardian: Moroccan opposition leader Mehdi ben Barka was a spy, as per cold war documents

The activist assassinated in Paris in 1965 was a global anti-imperialist hero, but data from the Czechoslovak secret service put doubt on his independence.

It is one of the Cold War’s most famous causes. Mehdi ben Barka, a Moroccan opposition leader and international left-wing hero, was kidnapped as he arrived at a brasserie on Paris’s left bank at midday on October 29, 1965.

Much of the facts about the 46-year-old dissident’s death has come to light over the years, including how he was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Moroccan intelligence officers in a residence south of Paris. However, many of Ben Barka’s activities prior to his death remain a mystery. According to recent study conducted in the archives of former Soviet satellite governments, the charismatic scholar, publicist, and political organizer may have also been a spy.

Ben Barka not only had a tight contact with the feared Czechoslovak security service Státn Bezpenost (StB), but he also got large payments from it, both in cash and in kind, according to previously secret data from Prague.

“Ben Barka is often portrayed as a warrior against colonizers and for the Third World, but the files show a really different impression: a man who was playing many sides, who knew a lot and also knew that information was very valuable in the cold war; an opportunist who was playing a very risky game,” said Dr Jan Koura, an assistant professor at Charles University in Prague, who gained access to the file.

The results will be contentious. For many on the left, Ben Barka remains a hero, and his family vehemently denies any allegations that he was involved in espionage or had strong relations to any government.

The notion of a relationship between Ben Barka and the StB was originally highlighted approximately 15 years ago, but few people paid heed to a Czech journalist’s inquiry. However, Koura was able to not only access the whole Ben Barka file in the StB archives, but also to cross-reference its 1,500 pages with thousands of other recently disclosed secret documents.

“There is no doubt about [the Czech connection]. All the documents confirm it,” Koura told the Observer.

Ben Barka’s involvement with the StB began in 1960, when he met its most senior agent in Paris after fleeing Morocco to escape King Mohammed V’s increasingly dictatorial government, according to the file reviewed by Koura. His native country, a former French colony, had been pro-western since the Cold War began, but had recently shifted closer to Moscow. Spies in Prague hoped that this prominent leader of Morocco’s independence struggle and founder of the country’s first socialist opposition party would provide valuable intelligence not only on Moroccan political developments but also on the thinking of Arab leaders such as Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

According to the StB, Ben Barka was a key figure in the “anti-imperialist movement of African and Asian nations,” which included Malcolm X, Che Guevara, and a youthful Nelson Mandela. The StB reported Ben Barka as a source of “very useful” information soon after their first encounters, and gave him the codename “Sheikh,” according to the archives.

According to the file, by September 1961, Ben Barka had earned 1,000 French francs from the StB for reports regarding Morocco that he said were copied from France’s overseas intelligence service’s internal bulletin. When the fraud was revealed, the material was publicly available, causing outrage and embarrassment in Prague. Despite this, Ben Barka was offered an all-expenses-paid trip to west Africa to gather information on US activities in Equatorial Guinea. This mission was deemed successful.

After hearing from an operator in France in February 1962 that “Sheikh” had visited an American trade unionist at L’Éléphant Blanc bar in Paris and got a check made out in US dollars, the Czechoslovaks began to think Ben Barka had links with other cold war participants as well. This raised suspicions that Ben Barka was linked to the CIA, which was eager to assist democratic reform in Morocco and secure the country for the western camp. The StB was to receive more allegations that Ben Barka was in contact with the US, though when asked, the Moroccan politician always denied it, according to Koura.

Despite this, the connection remained. Ben Barka was brought to Prague by the Czechoslovaks, where he agreed to help influence African politics and leaders in exchange for £1,500 each year.

According to the records, Ben Barka was sent to Iraq to gather intelligence on the February 1963 coup, for which he was paid £250. In Algeria, he visited with Ahmed ben Bella, the president and a friend, on several occasions and briefed him on the situation in the newly independent country.

He was sent to Cairo to acquire information from senior Egyptian officials that might aid the Soviets in negotiations during a visit by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The material provided by Ben Barka was deemed “very valuable” by Soviet intelligence services, who received his reports. According to Koura’s investigation, he and his four children were invited on a vacation to a spa in Czechoslovakia as a reward for their services.

“Ben Barka never admitted to working with intelligence services, and the StB never identified him as an agent, rather as a “secret contact,” according to the report. “However, he was offering information for a fee,” Koura explained.

“He was a really astute individual. There is no document bearing his signature, and no samples of his writing are available. He was interrogated for hours on end… He used a typewriter on occasion but refused to write anything by hand.”

Ben Barka’s motivations, as a committed activist who has been arrested and imprisoned several times in Morocco, are unknown.

His supporters claim that he was willing to discuss the world situation with Czechoslovak leaders on a regular basis since it was the best method to sway them. They further claim that, while Ben Barka’s assessments may have been beneficial to the StB, this does not make him a “agent,” regardless of what was written on internal documents by ambitious officials and spies.

They further suggest that such a role would have conflicted with Ben Barka’s commitment to protecting “the third world movement from both Soviet and Chinese influence.”

Bachir ben Barka, who lives in eastern France, told the Observer that his father’s relationships with socialist and other states were simply those to be expected of anyone deeply involved in the global struggle against imperialism and colonial exploitation at the time, noting that the documents studied by Koura were “perhaps edited or incomplete” because they were “produced by an intelligence service.”

Ben Barka’s benevolence is less convincing to Koura. “There was pragmatism as well as idealism.” I don’t hold him accountable. “The Cold War was not a black-and-white conflict,” he explained.

Ben Barka spent his final months planning the Tricontinental Conference, which would bring together hundreds of liberation movements, revolutionary organisations, and their backers in Cuba. In the 1960s and 1970s, the meeting would become a watershed point in the history of worldwide anti-colonialism, and the seasoned campaigner sought to chair it.

However, the Soviets thought he had grown too close to the Chinese, their rivals for worldwide left leadership. Ben Barka had received $10,000 from Beijing, according to Soviet officials, who pressed the StB to remove any support or protection for him.

Despite this, Ben Barka was brought to Prague for a week of instruction in communications, codes, surveillance, and counter-surveillance by the StB. However, this was too little, too late. Ben Barka was kidnapped and slain a week after requesting a handgun from the StB.

Despite ordering a probe, President Charles de Gaulle denied that the French secret services and police were involved. Key confidential documents in the case have yet to be released by France and the United States.

According to new Czechoslovak papers, Prague attempted to blame the CIA for the apparent death of Ben Barka. Few people were misled by this. London’s diplomats commend Paris’ “moderation” in the face of “overwhelming” proof suggesting Morocco’s intelligence services were responsible, according to a memo obtained by the Observer under British Freedom of Information legislation.